In the Wild

Tourists Thought These Animals Were Sheep — They Were NOT Sheep

Tourists on a cruise boat in one of the most remote places on Earth just witnessed an amazing moment.

At first, from the boat, people thought they were seeing sheep dotting the distant hills of Russia's Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean — but as they got closer they realized it was a very different kind of animal.

Dozens and dozens of polar bears were gathering together on the Arctic shoreline.

The occasion of the gathering was the carcass of a beached whale on the shore, which could provide sustenance for so many bears, including families with up to four cubs.

“There were at least 230 polar bears, including single males, single females, mothers with cubs and even two mothers with four cubs each," a source at Wrangel Island Nature Preserve said.

It's a welcome sight, seeing so many polar bears get a healthy feeding, especially since the threats to the species are profound. Because of melting ice in the Arctic, polar bears can become stranded from food supplies and starve.